The Hairclip He Gave Me Was a Free Gift from Her Jewelry Spree Chapter 04

The Hairclip He Gave Me Was a Free Gift from Her Jewelry Spree Chapter 04

After his shower, Sebastian came to find me.

But I didn’t let him in.

His voice softened.

“Rhea, it rained today, and my leg hurts again.”

“Can I hold you while we sleep?”

In the past, whenever he said his leg hurt, I would soften no matter how firm I had been.

But today, I didn’t agree.

His voice came through the door again, with a touch of hurt.

“Why aren’t you happy even when you got gold?”

“Rhea, is it because the gold is too small? Are you disappointed that I’m poor?”

It was absurd.

The man outside the door was an heir to one of Manhattan’s richest families, and he was telling me he was poor.

I turned off the light and wrapped myself in the blanket.

“I have plans tomorrow. I need to rest.”

My department had an overseas exchange opportunity I had been fighting for.

The recommendation list would come out tomorrow.

I wanted to wait for the result before saying anything.

I had done the math. My GPA and overall score left everyone else far behind.

It should have been a sure thing.

Sure enough, the next day, my adviser called me into her office.

She handed me a form.

“This is the school’s recommendation list. We recommended you.”

It was good news, but there was no joy on her face. She seemed to want to say something.

Finally, she said.

“Rhea, this exchange is funded by Meridian Group, so the final decision is theirs.”

“They rejected our recommendation, saying you have… questionable character.”

“I’m sorry, but the exchange spot can’t go to you.”

I stood there frozen.

What did “questionable character” even mean?

I asked my adviser, but she couldn’t explain either.

She just pressed my shoulder and told me society had its own cruel rules.

The answer my adviser couldn’t give me, Charlotte did.

Outside the teaching building, she swirled her bubble tea and smiled at me.

“Surprised you didn’t get the spot?”

“Don’t blame me. Blame yourself for minding everyone’s business back then.”

“My brother happens to know Meridian Group’s CEO, so I asked him to cross your name off.”

With one careless sentence, she destroyed an opportunity I had spent two years preparing for.

Right then, Sebastian came to pick me up after class.

Charlotte looked up and met his eyes for a second.

After the look, they both smoothly looked away.

Like strangers with nothing to do with each other.

Sebastian looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

“You look awful. What happened?”

As he spoke, he opened his palm. A pink hair clip lay in it.

“Here. I got paid from my side job today, so I bought you this little thing.”

“Feeling better?”

The cheap plastic caught the light with a cheap shine.

It looked ridiculous next to the gleaming gold on Charlotte.

I stood where I was and looked at Sebastian calmly.

“Do you want to make me happy?”

He nodded without hesitation.

“Of course.”

So I turned around and caught up to Charlotte, who was about to leave.

Before she could react, I slapped her hard across the face.

Charlotte froze, then screamed and covered her cheek.

“Rhea! Are you crazy?”

I grabbed her wrist and turned to look at Sebastian.

Word by word, clearly.

“Sebastian, she’s bullying me.”

“Didn’t you want to make me happy? Then stand up for me.”

Sebastian seemed dazed for a moment.

He had probably never seen me throw a hand in all the time he knew me.

His gaze landed on Charlotte’s swollen cheek, his expression complicated.

After a moment, he frowned and reminded me in a low voice, “Rhea, let go.”

“Hitting people is wrong.”

The whole time, he never asked what I had suffered.

He just stood there playing neutral and lecturing me with useless moralizing.

If he wouldn’t do it, I would do it myself.

I slapped Charlotte again.

Her eyes, fixed on Sebastian, filled with tears.

Finally angry, Sebastian stepped forward and grabbed my hand.

“Rhea, how can you be so unreasonable?”

“No matter what, you’re classmates. Can’t you talk things out?”

He was so busy protecting Charlotte that he forgot there were still two hair clips in his hand.

The plastic clips slipped from his palm and fell to the ground.

A passing bicycle ran over them, crushing them instantly.

I suddenly remembered last time, outside the corner store on the old street.

Under the dim streetlight, he had clipped the hairpin beside my ear.

His eyes curved into a smile, and my reflection filled them.

I laughed and held his hand, walking home with him.

Full of joy, imagining a bright future together.

The wind sent bits of debris spinning, and my nose stung.

After all, I had loved him. It hurt to pull away.

My phone rang at the worst moment.

An unknown number.

These past two days, I had been getting a lot of scam calls, each more ridiculous than the last.

One claimed I was a wealthy family’s long-lost daughter and wanted to take me home.

I was this poor, and they still wanted to scam me.

So I hung up directly.

When I looked up at Sebastian again, I finally said the words I had been rehearsing all night.

“Sebastian, this is where we end.”